Report: Trump Donor ‘Helps Fraudsters and Offshore Bettors’

DUBIOUS

Updated Aug. 02, 2018 6:12AM ET / Published Aug. 02, 2018 5:49AM ET

Carlos Barria / Reuters

A Hillary Clinton donor—who turned into a Donald Trump donor after the election—has been accused of helping fraudsters and offshore bettors by offering online services to help shady companies cover their tracks. Documents obtained by the Associated Press show Ahmad Khawaja’s company, Allied Wallet, has profited from guiding dubious businesses past banking systems by using “sham websites and dummy companies” to hide the businesses’ true nature. Allied Wallet’s own staff deemed some of the underlying business activities to be “very, very illegal.” The AP reports the practices “flout bank policies, credit-card network rules, and potentially U.S. laws designed to prevent money laundering.” Lebanese-born Khawaja gave more than $4 million to Clinton’s failed presidential campaign, but after Trump’s victory he met the president-elect at a $5,000-per-person fundraiser in Manhattan. Soon afterward, he contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. Khawaja’s company claims to process billions of dollars a year in online transactions. The company’s marketing director, A.J. Almeda, said in a statement that “any accusations of illicit or prohibited activities are misleading and categorically false.”